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Top 9 reasons to visit Europe During Winter

Europe, every tourist’s dream destination, has been alluring tourists with its spectacular beaches, dizzy cocktails, amazing scenic beauty and lots more since decades. But visiting this small continent may be a mess in the mid-year summer.

A true traveller would prefer to visit the Old World during winter and there are some solid reasons behind this. Let’s talk about some of them.

Fewer tourists - An excursionist will surely avoid summer to visit Europe owing to its busyness or crowd. To escape the crowd, he would break out and prefer winter to land there.

Cheaper prices – In connection to point 1, it is obvious that everything, from airfare over to hotels from rail tickets to food, is obtainable for cheaper rates. Even the business class to Europe becomes cheaper. So get the cheapest business flights and head towards the Land of the Eagles. You can get even more discount in the small towns as well as places highly dependent on tourists and tourism while metropolises generally don’t try that hard to attract tourists by lowering rates.

Markets and special festivals – Europe street markets are all set up throughout the continent during December. In fact, this is an old tradition which goes back to the 1400s. These seasonal markets are of great attractions amongst local and regional travellers. Annual events held during cold include Dublin International Film Festival (late February), Carnival (late February) and Kiruna Snow Festival (Late January) are some other seasonal attractions to name.

Environment – For a nature-lover, winter is the perfect time for visiting Europe. Icicles hanging from eaves of a Bavarian B&B, snowflakes falling in front of back-lit Eiffel Tower or the quiet crunch of tires on snowed-over ways in Warsaw or Amsterdam, simply carry the magic of real winter.

The aurora – You probably know, darker days bring opportunity to see Northern lights. And so be in northern Scandinavia and experience the fair shot.

Temperate south – For destinations such as Crete, Sicily, Cyprus, Canary Islands and southern part of Spain, France, Italy and Greece, winter is the ideal season to visit weather-wise.

Indoor attractions – Europe is famous for its ‘indoor culture’ (palaces, art galleries, museums, cathedrals). These well-lit, heated spaces are quite appealing as the sun sets at about 3 and temperature hovers around freezing though hours are curtailed during off-season. Concert halls and theaters usually put on more shows during winter. You can choose to spend the day in a pub too! Just go guilt free and enjoy even the nastiest and coldest winter day.

Winter sports – Europe is eponym for alpine and Nordic ski disciplines. Though snowboarding is not much popular here but it is well established. You can also go for ice fishing, snowshoeing, snowkiting and ice racing if being adventurous is your hobby.

Winter cuisine – Winter is just awesome in Europe for the foodies. The winter has spawned a wide array of traditional cold-weather dishes. Like Germans love to break out venison as it gets colder. Roasted chestnuts are a hot favorite vendor staple at Christmas market. Fondue and raclette based around warmed cheese are special winter delicacies of France and Switzerland. When it comes to winter cuisine, don’t miss mulled wine, the specialty of London bars.

Europe offers a broad array of travel experiences for both short and long visits. Next time, when you plan your visit to Europe, make it in winter and gather wonderful memories that will last a lifetime.